Tonight's lineup: Caps at 'Canes

...what r u waiting for?

wtf, wtf_e_fehr? Is that a bad sign for ice conditions the rest of this game?

I sure hope not!

Are we goin' old school? Tarik style? With no "Open Thread"?

Hasn't it been a couple of games since they last offered the open thread? I for one never used it.

guess so...the open thread has been M.I.A. the past few games.

Also, for playing RW tonight, OV is spending a lot of time on the LW side of the ice

Are we goin' old school? Tarik style? With no "Open Thread"?

Posted by: wtf_e_fehr | November 24, 2010 7:16 PM

at least there isn't any twitter tonight

What a surprise, Bradley is bleeding

BFV - with an oil leak under the left headlight

i didn't know how to take bradley winning two fights this year....good to see the old bradley back. he's the best

At least Ovie has 2 recorded shots in this first period, unlike the recent past. Maybe good things will come.

i didn't know how to take bradley winning two fights this year....good to see the old bradley back. he's the best

good d by semin

WOO!! Backy!!

Y E S!!!

thats good hockey

backstrom with some really quick hands on getting a shot off of that rebound

EXCELLENT SHIFT TO FOLLOW THE GOAL!

GO CAPS!

I like laich on the first line.

looks like everyone is putting in extra effort

They were good on the PK, now let's see positive results on the PP. I'm encouraged.

Caps are good at killing their own power plays

Chimmychanga has to stash that, nice pass by Poti.

20 of 60 - good so far
BB should mix it up in the locker room and rip them a new one now - try and get a second good 20 out of them

Alzner needs to stop thinking so hard and just play like he can. Not being able to get the puck out of our end due to extra pressure is a problem with him.

A better effort from a lot of players. That one shift by Semin, Flash and Johansson was impressive. That needs to happen more often.

8 completely missed a backcheck during the 4-on-4. He didn't even make an attempt to skate back.

Scratch that... I just rewinded it... he made an effort but was way too late to react.

Now Bruce is dancing in a track suit.

Nice effort nicky

Go Varly!

Poti looks a lil rusty.

Two plays by 8 have led directly to 3-on-2s so far.

The first was mentioned above.

The second happened a few min ago where he lunged for a puck that he had no chance to get to first and the d-man or whoever it was started up ice on the 3-on-2.

I understand that he's done some good things but it's those low hockey IQ/poor defensive awareness plays that he and the rest of the team need to eliminate.

To add to that, there is nothing wrong with putting pressure on the puck but you need to move your legs and do it while being prepared to backcheck (or actually starting the backcheck) in that situation. Since the Carolina player was so much closer to the puck, the full-fledged lunge took himself totally out of the play.

Smell a hattie coming for Backie.

21-19-8 has been working well tonight

again ovie muffs it on the PP point

We were 6th in the league on the PP. But I still don't like our PP. We should be #1!

That was the best 2nd period we have had in a long time.

20 more to go!

That was the best 2nd period we have had in a long time.

20 more to go!

40 of 60 - i'm still pleased with the effort so far
BB work your magic and see if you can get them to commit to another 20

Dat post wuz so nice...

I HAD TO DO IT TWICE!!!

The score is deceptive.

We've played harder and smarter tonight but we've given up a lot of oddman rushes, which is particularly frustrating when we have the lead on the road.

Ovechkin alone has been entirely or partly responsible for 3 of them.

Beyond that, Varlamov has been excellent.

If the Caps don't tighten up and make better positional decisions, this game could turn for the worse quickly. Carolina's been getting 3-on-2s all night.

WOW

Canes had 19 SOG in that period

RETURN OF THE VARLY!

Yet another bad defensive play by 8.

Schultz workin his tail off to get the puck out and 8 is standing up near the blueline on the wrong side of the Carolina player just watching the play.

s*cks for varly - he's playing very good tonight

They have been trying indirect stuff since the puck dropped.

They kept up the pressure and got one.

COME ON CAPS!

Steckel's been playing well by his standards recently but his lack of speed and ability to change direction quickly hurt there. A little more speed and better reaction time and he may get across and prevent that pass through.

welp

40 minutes of good hockey, down the drain...

time to play some hockey - get it back boys

they look like their interested in playing again now

NOW THATS A PP!

nice - ovi is a assist machine tonight

I've lost count of the number of 3-on-2s we've given up tonight. We're lucky to have only given up 2 goals.

Nice to see Brooks get the tip in. He has been way over due

I'm still hoping for a Backstrom hat trick.

@lag0m0rph

just hoping for the win

Lets go Backie - empty neter.

Don't wanna pick too much on Poti since he's obviously rusty but he's made at least 3 horrible plays in the d-zone over the course of this game.

MUCH BETTER!

That'll do pig...that'll do.

...and how about VARLY?!?

Don't like a couple of those decisions made with the empty net.

Overall, a better effort level tonight obviously. It's hard to imagine they couldn't improve after that previous debacle.

Still, the team defense was porous at times.

I'd actually give POG to Varlamov over even Backstrom. If not for his stellar play, we could've easily given up 4 or 5 goals in this game.

POSTGAME THOUGHTS:
This just in - see what happens when you skate and work hard?????? LOL. Honestly - a great effort but let's face it folks - it's a long hockey season and sometimes you're going to have off nights like Atlanta and NJ. It happens. The rebounded and didn't fold even when Carolina battled back to tie it. Solid win.

Varlamov - welcome back and it seems like he hasn't missed a beat in net.

Sloan - go back to the AHL and stay there. Nice to have a little more stability back there with the defense.

Time to get back home and shutdown the Lightning who are on a roll. It's been a two point night.

ICEBREAKERS GOAL SHAKERS!!!!

Still room for improvement, but the whole team played a lot better tonight then they have in the past week (at least)

Nice to see Fahey NOT put one in against us!

Thank God for the win! What a nail biter! I had my fear that they'd blow it when Carolina tied.

Welcome back Ovie, Backstrom, and Varly!

Only one goal counts as a gaff as the 2nd was caused after the ref blatantly missed a hook.

was it a perfect game...of course not, but lets focus on the 100% improved effort, Ovie coming out of his mild coma, and just a good overall game.

Is there any place to hear all of BB's comments on the game? Comcast gave us all of 1 minute.

@aglafelter

they will be on washingtoncaps.com in the next 30-60minutes

i give carolina some credit for not giving up. they reminded me of the caps when they're behind. looked like the caps took it up a notch once carolina tied it. this should be used as an example of taking it to the next level when the playoffs start.

@aglatfelter caps365 generally has them a bit after the game. I just follow @washcaps (twitter) for links.

sweet! thanks capscoach and lag0m0rph!

I don't know how good a coach Guy Boucher will turn out to be but he looks and sounds extremely upset after a 5-3 win against the Rangers... don't think I've ever seen BB this upset after a win.

Good to see tonight Cody Eakin get the primary assist on the winning goal with 32 second left in OT to give the Broncos a 3-2 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings.

@joek443

We know that Boudreau would not be happy with a 5-3 win, if the Caps had led 5-0 at one point.

Tampa is having a great season this year and is much improved. But I'd say they definitely have weaknesses in defense and goal tending, even more than the Caps.

Nice win by the guys, but can anyone tell me what the hell "Icebreakers Goal shakers" means? I realize it rhymes, but it makes zero sense unless I am missing something.

Something tells me they'll be leaving Laich on the top line with Backstrom and Ovi for a while, given that it works. Laich's ice time has gone way up with his promotion to 1LW.

So what spot will Knuble go to when he returns? 2RW? And does that mean that Semin will switch to LW to make room for Knuble? (Originally, they had switched Semin to RW so that when Ovi took extra long shifts, Semin could get more ice time.) So now Ovi's the 1RW, defeating the whole purpose of Semin moving to RW to begin with.

@ Aldred15

that's just from the little theme song of their radio broadcast back in the day... Ron Weber days